Salvation in the Deliverer

Psalm 119:81-88

P.O.P.

God’s Word reminds us of the hope of salvation from all affliction.

Kids

God’s Word promises we will not suffer forever.

I. God’s promise is our hope in affliction.

Psalm 119:81-82 “My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word. My eyes long for your promise;”

NASB: My soul languishes for Your salvation;

NIV: My soul faints with longing for your salvation,

NLT: I am worn out waiting for your rescue,

Affliction at the hands of opponents:

Taunted (vs. 42)

Mocked (vs. 51)

Bound (vs. 61)

Smeared (vs. 69)

Wronged (vs. 78)

In essense, the psalmist is saying, ‘I look to you and only you for comfort; if comfort does not come from you, then it will not come.

Danny Akin

Fatalist - fate will have its way so just deal with whatever is before you because you cannot change it.

Buddhism - suffering is because we cannot find true happiness and we may face suffering due to karma.

Secularism - suffering has no meaning or purpose. “In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice.” Richard Dawkins

There is purpose to it, and if faced rightly, it can drive us like a nail deep into the love of God and into more stability and spiritual power than you can imagine.”

Tim Keller

This is why truth is so important. This is why the doctrine of the Word of God is essential. The infallible, inerrant, and inspired Word of God tells us the truth of our suffering and the hope that can be found amidst it.

Christianity says our suffering is real, overwhelming, and debilitating; however, it is also says that there is hope, meaning, and an end to it all as well.

If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth—only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.

C. S. Lewis

II. God’s Word is our affirmation in affliction.

A. He will comfort the weak.

Psalm 119:82-83 “I ask, “When will you comfort me?” For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes.”

Read and Invite others to turn: Psalm 22

Note what follows: Psalm 23

It will greatly comfort you if you can see God’s hand in both your losses and your crosses.

Charles Spurgeon

So often in suffering and affliction we may ask:

“What is the chief end of God to man?”

“What is God’s chief end to my affliction?”

“What is God’s chief end to my happiness?”

However, the question actually says:

“What is man’s chief end?”

“To glorify God and enjoy him forever.”

Or, if I can:

“To glorify God and enjoy him in all things, through all afflictions, in all circumstances wholly and forever.”

“Dejected, through worldly and church concerns; but had some relief, tonight, in casting all my care upon the Lord, hoping that he careth for me. The Lord undertake for me! O thou that managest worlds unknown, without one disappointment, take my case into thy hand, and fit me for thy pleasure. If poverty must be my portion, add thereto contentment.”

Andrew Fuller

B. He will affirm the righteous.

Psalm 119:84-85 “How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me? The insolent have dug pitfalls for me; they do not live according to your law.”

Our translation: I have had enough! Do something about it!

Verse 84 “When will YOU judge those who persecute me?”

Romans 12:19 “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

We may want payback now, but we must wait on God to deliver it on his timetable, not ours. We can lament, but we cannot take into our own hands what belongs only to God.”

Danny Akin

1 Timothy 3:2 “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach...”

Hebrews 13:7 “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.”

1 Peter 5:3 “not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.”

While clear instruction is given to the Pastors of churches, all Christians are called to live above reproach. Are we not all called to holiness and righteousness? Therefore ALL Christians ought to live in a way to avoid the pitfalls laid for them.

C. He will redeem the broken.

Psalm 119:86-88 “All your commandments are sure; they persecute me with falsehood; help me! They have almost made an end of me on earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts. In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.”

This is a golden prayer, as precious as it is short. The words are few, but the meaning is full. Help was needed that the persecuted one might avoid the snare, might bear up under reproach, and might act so purdently as to baffle his foes. God’s helps is our hope. Whoever may hurt us, it matters not so long as the Lord helps us; for if indeed the Lord helps us, none can really hurt us.”

Charles Spurgeon

Psalm 42:1-3 “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?””

Psalm 42:6 “My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.”

Psalm 42:9-10 “I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?””

Psalm 42:11 “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

The hope we live for is not vengeance, it is not the absence of affliction, it is not an answer to why we are afflicted; our hope is our salvation in God.

Luke 23:44-49 “It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.”

John 1:1-9 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.”

John 1:12-14 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

No matter how dark Friday became, that darkness would have no comparison to the light from the Son on Sunday. Just as sure as the grave could not hold Christ, your afflictions cannot overcome those who are in Christ.

Every promise God has ever made finds its fulfillment in Jesus.

Joni Eareckson Tada

The Psalmist credits two things to his continued hope:

The steadfast love of God.

The only love that won’t disappoint you is one that can’t change, that can’t be lost, that is not based on the ups and downs of life or of how well you live. It is something that not even death can take away from you. God’s love is the only thing like that.

Tim Keller

The Word of God.

Men many times eat their words, but God will never eat his.

Thomas Brooks

The Scriptures have never erred.

Martin Luther

The promise to those who are found in Christ is not that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but that God Himself is on the other side of our affliction through the sacrificial work of Jesus.

We are not hoping for a better life or better times, but confidence in eternal joy.